we bought our first color tv
to watch the grey-on-grey grains
the screen & the surface
& the very first footstep
I’d raise my family in space
or Tranquility Base
& life would float lightly
with many marvelous things
one of the first things I still can remember
was my ABC book
I think it was called
Space Alphabet
b was for booster
v – Van Allen belt
& the world took the shape of its vessel: hope
that echoed the hope of an eight-year-old boy
(that’s eight-and-a-half & moving to space)
implicitly promised space-age adventures
Gus Grissom’s death was the first one I cried at
& now family is coming & I still live on Earth
& I have to admit while watching tv &
some sci-fi comes on & someone
flies off across space
I might feel the small hollow where that historical future would have snug fit
In the pit of my stomach
but then I remember that we rocket along
67,000 miles every hour
& that helps me float lightly
& seek marvelous things
(tranquility base)
& I wasn’t far off
June 20 2004
35th anniversary of Apollo 11
